Car has just been in for it's MOT, 40k service and brake fluid change last Saturday. Passed MOT etc, advisory that console bushes had split. The garage said this was covered under warranty and would be replaced. Service book said no brake fluid change. Went back inside, said it would all be looked at today. Fair enough I thought.

So I got to the garage bright and early, made sure they were going to do an alignment after the console bushes were installed. Great I thought! Got back to the garage this afternoon and they had done everything but not done an alignment as this wasn't covered under the warranty. Furthermore, they had been to busy to be able to do it should I have wanted to pay for it to be done.

Overall thoughts. £332 for 40k service, brake fluid, MOT and full air conditioning service and antibacterial treatment. Great! Console bushes replaced under warranty. Wonderful!

I'm just a little concerned by the fact that the service manager thought alignment would be covered, then someone else said that it doesn't need doing when bushes are replaced. I phoned Royce Roberts in Hull who said they recommend that the car be aligned when bushes are done....I'm going to get in touch with Skoda on Tuesday, where do I stand?

My argument was that I bought the car brand new and it was obviously tracked correctly then. Regardless of my driving, the bushes have failed and had to be replaced, which would undoubtedly alter the tracking of the vehicle, therefore I shouldn't have to pay for this to be done! Thoughts, recommendations or comments welcomed.

Overall, I would really recommend the Garage, DM Keith in York (just taken over from Martyn Beever). Obviously they don't want to do the work as they're not getting paid for it. Steven Heward was fantastic and I look forward to going back for my next service. £332 is about 15 quid lower than quoted too which is brilliant!

at least you got your console bushes under warrenty, they wouldn't replace mine, now they have lost my business.....

What he said, amazed after 3 years they replaced the bushes for free, mind you amazed they lasted 3 years....................... try harder in future !!

I knew they'd go eventually! They're the uprated ones now, not cupra ones but seem to be much better. I was pleased they said they'd cover it, apparently there is something on their system that says they can put console bushes through under warranty. Obviously not the tracking.

In all honesty, if they had said at the start that they'd do the bushes and not the tracking I would have taken that!

PS Sharkrider, I knew of your circumstances tbh. I knew they refused back then. But now I think they've accepted it's not good enough as they're replacing them with an 'updated' part. Obviously not the Cupra Bushes, but significantly more sturdy.

Edited 27 August, 201015 yr by Phil_Peck

Provided you've not whacked anything, an alignment won't be essential since the new bushes will put the toe-in (the only thing that's adjustable on the Fabia) back to what it should be anyway...

Provided you've not whacked anything, an alignment won't be essential since the new bushes will put the toe-in (the only thing that's adjustable on the Fabia) back to what it should be anyway...

As far as needing to get the full four whel alignment done after the TCA rear bushes have been replaced, I thought that the main dealer still either replaced the consoles completely or replaced the bushes after taking the consoles off. Unless they have tooling that allows the consoles to pop back on in the same place, then re--alignment would be needed to complete this job properly, as far as I had been informed at my VW garage, the indexing threaded pins that get used to re-locate the crossmember don't even allow for returning the crossmember to its original position - so they always advise a full re-alignment. Supplying and fitting these bushes FOC under warranty but refusing to do the alignment sounds a bit like replacing a leaking radiator under warranty but not filling it back up with proper coolant - we should not be putting up with that crap its just sloppy!

Technically no we don't need to do wheel alignment by the book so warranty won't cover it. There are some tools available that locate the frame etc and hold it all in place so it won't move from it's original position. Personally I think they are crap but as it's possible it's not covered. And besides wheel alignment isn't covered over about 3000 miles I think anyhow, Very much doubt it's the same as it was setting wise as when it left the factory, it's just one of those adjustments that is serviceable and will need doing from time to time.